21 MAY 1983, Page 20

The Oxford Shakespeare

Sir: 1. I am glad that Mr Wells agrees (Let- ters, 30 April) that Jonson's lines ... with three rusty swords, And help of some few foot-and- half-foot words, Fight over York and Lancaster's long jars,'

refer to Shakespeare's Henry VI, as they obviously do.

2. 1 am happy to agree that the line, 'Where neither Chorus wafts you o'er the seas,'

refers to Henry V.

I hope that Mr G. Taylor realises that the first quotation refers to Henry VI, as Mr Wells does.

A. L. Rowse

St Austell, Cornwall